WeightWatchers 2012 Annual Report Download - page 52

Kingdom launched its new program, ProPoints, in early November 2010, and saw attendance growth as a result
of the launch. However, because of limited marketing prior to the new program launch and bad weather during
the launch period, fourth quarter 2010 attendances decreased 11.3% versus the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.
In fiscal 2011, paid weeks grew 18.3% versus the prior year, benefiting from enrollment growth concurrent
with the launch of ProPoints late in fiscal 2010 and early fiscal 2011 and an increase in Monthly Pass
penetration. As with NACO, this growth in recruitment resulted in a larger customer base and as a result,
attendances also grew, up 13.7% versus the prior year. For the first, second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal
2011, paid weeks grew 21.9%, 16.1%, 18.1% and 17.1%, and attendances grew 22.2%, 8.5% (impacted by the
Royal Wedding and Easter timing), 10.1% and 13.0%, respectively, as compared to the prior year periods.
In fiscal 2012, paid weeks declined 11.3% and attendances decreased 16.5% versus the prior year level. As
with NACO, the United Kingdom entered fiscal 2012 with more active members as compared to the beginning of
fiscal 2011, but experienced lower enrollments in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 versus the prior year period.
These lower enrollments were driven by cycling against the historically high recruitment levels in the first
quarter of fiscal 2011 and resulted in a decline in paid weeks. This declining trend continued throughout the rest
of fiscal 2012 and was negatively impacted by an advertising campaign that was ineffective at driving enrollment
growth and weak macro-economic trends. For the first, second, third and fourth quarters of fiscal 2012, paid
weeks declined 6.4%, 9.4%, 12.5% and 17.8%, and attendances declined 14.0%, 14.6%, 17.5% and 21.9%,
respectively, as compared to the prior year periods.
Continental Europe Meeting Metrics and Business Trends
Monthly Pass drove an overall 16.5% increase in Continental Europe paid weeks in fiscal 2008 versus the
prior year with its introduction in Germany in the third quarter of fiscal 2007 and then France in April 2008.
Attendance in fiscal 2008 declined 4.1% versus the prior year.
In fiscal 2009, most of our Continental European markets were deeply affected by the difficult recessionary
conditions. While Continental Europe experienced paid weeks growth of 1.6% versus the prior year as the market
continued to benefit from increased Monthly Pass penetration, meeting attendance declined 11.8% versus the
prior year. A major new innovative program, ProPoints, was launched in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.
In fiscal 2010, meeting paid weeks, benefiting from enrollment growth early in the year and an increase in
Monthly Pass penetration, grew 6.9% versus the prior year, while attendance in Continental Europe declined
1.6% versus the prior year. In the first half of fiscal 2010, the Continental European market experienced meeting
attendance growth as a result of the ProPoints program launch in 2009, which drove an influx of returning
members to our meetings. The marketing of this new program, however, was not successful in capturing the
attention of new members and, as a result, meeting attendance began to decline in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.
Entering fiscal 2011, Continental European performance continued its downward trend, with meeting paid
weeks down 9.8% versus the prior year and attendances down 15.4% versus the prior year. In the first half of
fiscal 2011, meeting paid weeks declined by 13.1% and attendance declined by 18.9% versus the prior year
period, as the business lapped the momentum of its program launch in the prior year. While still negative versus
the prior year period, the trend began to improve in the third quarter of fiscal 2011 with paid weeks down 6.0%
and attendances down 15.1%. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, Continental Europe soft launched its updated
version of ProPoints in December, resulting in a less negative performance with paid weeks down 4.9% and
attendances down 4.3% versus the prior year period.
In fiscal 2012, paid weeks grew 9.2%, and attendances grew 3.3%, versus the prior year. This growth was
driven by entering fiscal 2012 with a higher active member base than the prior year and the benefit of higher
enrollment growth from the launch of the updated version of ProPoints in late fiscal 2011 and early fiscal 2012,
effective new marketing strategies and an increase in Monthly Pass penetration. For the first, second, third and
fourth quarters of fiscal 2012, paid weeks grew 5.4%, 11.0%, 12.1% and 9.0%, and attendances grew 4.3%,
2.7%, 4.9% and 1.0%, respectively, as compared to the prior year periods.
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